Former Aviation Minister, Femi Fani-Kayode, has voiced strong criticism of former President Olusegun Obasanjo for commanding the Oyo traditional rulers to stand during an event on Friday. The former minister characterized Obasanjo’s actions as a “profound insult to the Yoruba people and our cherished traditional institutions.”
In our previous report, we highlighted that the former Nigerian leader strongly reprimanded the Obas in Oyo state for not rising to pay him respect and subsequently instructed them to “rise and then be seated.”
The incident has continued to generate reactions among Nigerians, with many berating the ex-president for desecrating the traditional institutions.
Reacting on Saturday via X, Fani-Kayode said it was saddening that Obasanjo once known for respecting monarchs degenerated into bullying them.
“I am deeply saddened and utterly mortified by how former President Olusegun Obasanjo lambasted our revered traditional rulers in Oyo state and “ordered” them to “stand up” and “sit down” as if they were children,” Fani-Kayode wrote.
“This is the same OBJ that, once upon a time, displayed his respect, humility and I daresay greatness by bowing, kneeling, and prostrating before our monarchs, even when he was President, yet today he talks to them as if they are his garbage collectors and orders them to jump up and down like a mule driver talking to his beleaguered passengers and a motor park tout talking to a bunch of jobless and worthless underlings.
“Many think that the whole thing is some kind of joke but I do not.
“We must not take it lightly and the truth is that by doing what he did he has spat on all our faces.
“His words and behavior are a desecration of our values and a grave insult to the Yoruba people and our traditional institutions.
“I am constrained to be gentle and restrained in my criticism of Baba OBJ on this and so many other issues because of the undying love, respect, and reverence I have for him.
“This is all the more so given the fact that I proudly served in his Government.
“However his association with and support for Peter Obi in the last presidential election has diminished and demystified him in the eyes of most to such an extent that it has become pitiful and embarrassing. It is also indefensible.
“How can a man who dedicated his life to and fought for a united Nigeria support a closet secessionist, a political fraud, a patently deceitful, vainglorious, and dishonest man, and a religious bigot like Peter to be President?
“That the great OBJ is now a flaming Obidient is the 8th wonder of the world. It makes no sense and it is simply mind-boggling.
“What we witnessed when OBJ insulted our traditional rulers in Oyo state yesterday was the Obi spirit which is now firmly embedded in him at work.
“First he was at a gathering in Awka where the Yoruba race was labelled “political rascals” by some Igbo leaders without a response from him and now he has the guts and effrontery to tell our traditional rulers to jump up and down like yoyos and clowns?
“Baba this is too much. Please respect yourself and stop embarrassing those of us who still have some affection and respect left for you.”
